1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to electrical connectors, whether they be connectors used as one-offs, for example for joining two electric wires together or for connecting such an electric wire to any electrical appliance, for example forming a junction terminal built into this electrical appliance, or whether they be connectors used modularly, in one or more rows, for example in the form of a strip.
It is targeted, more specifically, although not necessarily exclusively, at self-stripping connectors, that is to say at connectors which, intended for connecting at least one insulated electric wire, themselves locally strip this wire by locally displacing its insulating jacket.
2. Description of the Prior Art
More particularly still, the present invention is aimed at connectors of the type that are the subject of the French patent filed on Aug. 8, 1989 under the number 89 10664 and published under the number 2,650,920.
These connectors generally comprise two jaws, at least one of which is made of a conductive material, and which are mounted so that they can move one with respect to the other between two positions, one an open position, in which they are relatively distant from one another, and the other a closed position, in which they are relatively close together, these two jaws each having at least one contact slot by virtue of which they are able to interengaged when closed.
These connectors have, in particular, the advantage that they are simple to use and, when closed, firmly hold the electric wire that they grip and advantageously have only a very small transverse size compared with the wire.
To allow them to adapt to suit electric wires of different diameters, it has been envisaged for the two lips of the contact slot of each of their jaws to be dissociated by making these lips from two parts of such a jaw which are separate from each other.
In fact, given the transverse elasticity of such a jaw, these lips can thus move apart, depending on the diameter of the electric wire engaged between them.
However, to date, the lips of such a contact slot have extended in a straight line parallel to each other along the entire height of this slot.
While, therefore, for a relatively small-diameter electric wire, a relatively small separation between the two lips of such a contact slot will suffice; the same is not true in the case of a relatively large-diameter electric wire.
On the contrary, for such an electric wire, the ability of the two lips of the contact slot to move apart has to be relatively great.
What this means is that in order to accept relatively large-diameter electric wires, the contact slot itself has to be relatively tall, to the detriment of the transverse size of the device as a whole.